


things we cannot return to

by honeybb_79



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar State, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Battle, Chakra blocked, Dark, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Firelord Azula (Avatar), Gen, How Do I Tag, I am sleep deprived lol, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Injuries, Minor Mai/Zuko, Minor Sokka/Suki, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Phoenix King, Psychological Trauma, References to Depression, War, sozins comet, spirit journey, war is still going on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28335597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeybb_79/pseuds/honeybb_79
Summary: what if Zuko never told the gang about what Ozai was going to do to the Earth Kingdom? What if the gaang never told him that they were going to fight until after the comet?This is that story.It had been five years since the comet, and team avatar are still struggling and figuring out ways to end the war without Aang's avatar state. What happens if someone in the group goes out of their way to end it themselves?Tags will be updated as we roll along!
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Post-Comet

**Author's Note:**

> just letting you know: the gaang did not attack like how it happened in the show. Aang still can't access his avatar state, he never met with a lion turtle, and the final Agni kai didn't happen. 
> 
> Basically, Azula being crowned firelord, and Ozai crowning himself as the Phoenix King and attacking the Earth Kingdom DID happen.

It had been five years since Firelord Ozai used Sozin’s Comet to try to take over the Earth Kingdom. Aang had convinced himself that he was not ready to face the firelord. He couldn’t reach the avatar state, for his chakra was blocked. He was haunted by the memories of Azula striking him down. Team Avatar, including Zuko, had stayed in the northern water tribe in shelter.

“So what do we do? My father is making advances to the southern water-tribe. He will be not as strong as he was during the comet, but he will use all his might to conquer it,” Zuko said to Aang as they were sitting on an animal hide rug inside a snow home built for the whole team. Aang didn’t know what to do. He was not the twelve year old monk that had broken out of the iceberg. He was now seventeen and had more weight on his shoulders than ever before. With Ozai advancing and trying to conquer Ba Sing Se as well, Aang was having trouble having a clear thought. “Well?” Zuko said annoyingly. He knew about his fathers plans, but the team never told him that they were waiting until after the comet to take him down— he didn’t think it would take years to do so.

“Give me a minute!” Aang said rubbing the bridge of nose. The problems laid on him. He was the avatar. It was up to him to end the war and take down Ozai. What stood in the way was Ozai of course, but also Azula as the firelord. She and her father are the most powerful-benders together. He didn’t know how he’d take them down, but he had to. Time was slipping beneath his feet and it will be only a matter a time before the Phoenix King conquers the whole world— literally. Aang and Zuko sat in uncomfortable silence as Zuko waited for Aang to think of something. After a moment, he finally said, “Bring in Sokka and the rest of the team.”

Zuko got up from the animal hide and exited out of the home. He was frustrated over how long it had taken them to take some action, but he was glad his father didn’t make any fast advancement on taking over the remaining nations— the water tribes and Earth Kingdom. Hakoda had stayed in the southern tribe trying all his might to defend it if the Phoenix King made any advancements. He had the new technology that he and Sokka had invented and also the northern warriors in the south. They were ready for anything.

Aang sat alone and allowed his back to fall on the floor and lay on the ground on top of the animal hide. He let his fingers run through the fur and concentrated on his thoughts. He had to do this, but there was no way he was going to kill Ozai. It went against his teachings from the monks, and although Avatar Yangchen had told him he must do whatever it takes to save the world, he had a gut feeling that she was possibly wrong. _Hopefully the meeting with the team would help_ he thought. He felt the vibration of footsteps from the seismic technique that Toph helped him do, and he sat up from the rug and waited until his friends arrived. One by one every one of them came through the entryway into the snow home and gathered around him. Katara approached his side and sat next to him.

“Aang, now is the time to actually do something about his war. We cannot keep going on not taking any actions when the ‘Phoenix King’ is trying to take over the water tribes and Earth Kingdom,” Sokka said annoyed. He was impatient— more likely he was furious that the war hadn’t been over, and he really thought with the avatar discovered, he can actually end the war like Katara had said, but the waiting around had caused him to stress about it more. Suki stood next to him holding onto his arm and gently squeezing his bicep as a mechanism to calm him down.

“You think I dont know that? You think I’ve been sitting around doing nothing? Ive been thinking this whole time of strategies on what to do, and none of them seem as if it’ll end the war. Im trying my best! Im just one avatar— and in fact, I can’t even get into the avatar state!” Aang said annoyed at Sokka frustrations. He knew how Sokka felt, but he wasn’t the only one. Everyone was. Toph stood at the opposite side of Sokka and crossed her arms.

“Look, Twinkle Toes,” she says sternly, “I ran away from home to help you. We all did. You’re not alone. So, get your ass up and end the firelord! Its not that hard. Zuko is fine with it, right?” Zuko freezes as the words slipped out of her mouth. He didn’t know what to say. Aang shakes his head and rises up from the ground pulling away from Katara’s grip on holding him down.

“Its against my teachings, Toph! All life is sacred! I can’t do that!,” he yells at her. This was the first time in years he had gotten angry and even yell at someone. He felt bad right after, and he couldn’t believe he wasn’t managing his anger like he had used to, but they had always tried to tell him to just end Ozai’s life— they didn’t understand him. Sokka groans at Aang’s response and grips away from Suki.

“Aang, this is your fault!" he scoffs, "You know, Katara convinced me when we discovered you that you would end this war. Five years have passed. Five! The war is still going on. People are dying. The selfish act of you of not wanting to kill him, is only making it worse. I used to believe in you, but now I’m not so sure,” he says pointing his finger at Aang. Katara widened her eyes as her brother yelled at the person she loved. They hadn’t declared their love for each other— she wanted to wait until the war was over, but she always showed the love to Aang whenever she could. She rises up from the ground and stands next to Aang.

“Sokka!” She pinches the bridge of her nose and furrows her eyebrows angrily at her older brother. “Guys! Just calm down! Its been a rough few years. We can’t just make Aang do something that he’s not comfortable with!” Sokka tenses up as his little sister yelled at him for taking out his frustrations on Aang. He couldn’t believe she was standing up against him. He closes his eyes and looks away from her and puts his hands up in the air up to surrender the conversation. He was disappointed at her.

“Whatever, Katara. Im leaving,” he says turning away from the rest of the group. Suki watches him leave and looks back at the group. She hesitated, but she followed her gut.

“I’ll go check on him to see if he’s okay,” she tells the group pointing towards the exit of the snow home. Aang nods his head as he tries to fight the tears. He felt the whole world on his shoulders, and Sokka blaming him for everything had piled it on even more where Aang didn’t seem as if he was strong enough to carry on. Every single problem going on was just going to one person. Sokka had said that Aang hadn’t done nothing in five years, but in reality, he was doing all he can on saving the remaining states from the earth kingdom. Saving the water-tribe and helping Sokka with running things within the tribes. He slumps down to the ground and covers his face with his hands. He wipes his tears as they escaped from his waterline. Katara kneels down to the ground next to him and rests her hand on his shoulder.

“Aang, Sokka didn’t mean it. He’s just frustrated with everything,” she whispers to him. He nods his head and sniffles.

“Aang, you may feel like the whole world is on your shoulders, which may be true, but you’re not doing this alone. You have us! We can do it together,” Toph says reassuring to him. This was one of the few times where Toph had opened up trying to encourage the team. Sometimes they weren’t helpful, but this time, it really lifted Aang up. He looks up at her and smiles softly at her. He thanks her, but then he looks at the Fire Nation banished prince that had stood there throughout the whole thing quietly.

“Zuko, why are you quiet?”

Zuko stood there blankly and blinked.

“Uh— I dont know. I dont know what to say. Whatever you do, I’ll trust you and stand by you.” He ran his hands through his long hair. The room fell silent, but the way Sokka had left the snow home, changed the atmosphere of the room into an uncomfortable one. Zuko thinks about his uncle. They had reunited after the comet where he identified himself as part of the white lotus. The Phoenix King had almost conquered Ba Sing Se but was turned away as Team Avatar and the White Lotus fought against the Fire Nation army until the comet was over.

_“It is not my destiny to fight against my brother”_ Zuko remembered on what Iroh had said to him. The rest of the lotus had moved to the Southern Water-Tribe with chief Hakoda and the rest of his warriors and prepared just in case if the Fire Nation tried to conquer the two tribe-sisters.

“Look, Aang,” Zuko broke off the silence and looked down at his friend. “We will be there with you every step of the way.” He kneels to the ground and gives him a hug. Katara does the same and soon Toph sighed and joined in on the big, warm group hug.


	2. Return

“Sokka, wait!” Suki said following behind him as he leaves the teams' communal snow home. He stops walking once he heard the voice of his long-time girlfriend. He felt her rest her hand on his shoulder, and he turns around to see her. Her eyes were filled with concerned. He had never lashed out or become angry like that before to the group, and she didn’t quite know how to make him feel better. “Are you okay?” She holds onto his hands and rubs her thumbs against his knuckles lightly. He sighs and looks down between them not meeting her eyes anymore.

“I don't know, Suki. I’m just tired of all of this. I don't know what to do.” She wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly. She understood what he had meant and the words that slipped out of his lips, struck a core inside of her where tears welled in her eyes.

“I know,” she says lightly and buries her face in the crook of his neck. He hugs her back tightly and then unwrapped himself from their embrace. He gives her a small peck on her cheek and gestures for them to move more out of the entryway of the snow home. They had walked through the snowy terrance of the northern water-tribe. He missed home, but he knew they had to stay at the north with the northern warriors and send messages to his fathers warriors-- who were really the northern warriors that were sent to the south to help out their sister tribe. They had to protect the sister-tribe. They stopped when the walkway had come to an end and there was a bridge for them to walk on to the other side. Sokka took Suki’s hand and guided her to the top of the frozen bridge. They stood alongside together where they were still holding on to each others hands. Suki rests her elbows at the edge of the railing, facing the rest of the tribe and its water-system. She buries her face into her hands and sobs lightly. She thought of it as a foolish way of her to be crying out of nowhere, and she immediately stops her tears from flowing out. She wipes her eyes and brushes her wet hands on her thick and furry water-tribe parka. Sokka pulls her into an embrace once again and Suki rests her head on his chest under his chin.

“Im sorry. That was stupid—“ 

“No. I get it, Suki. I do.”

“I guess the war has taken a toll on me. I wasn’t expecting the emotions to just rush out like that.” She sighs deeply trying to calm herself down. “I guess I just miss home and my warriors. I haven’t seen them in so long. . . and my people. . .” she croaks. Sokka runs his fingers through Suki’s short hair and had tears welling in his eyes understanding how Suki felt.

“I miss home. I want to be there for my dad, but my destiny is here with the team and my sister. I wish we would have solved how to end the war already. I’m not sure how long we have left until Ozai conquers the whole world.” Suki unwraps herself from Sokka and stares out into the night. The moon was shining brightly and staring at it-- it brought her hope.

“Maybe. . . “ she hesitates on finishing her sentence and shakes the thought away.

“What? What is it?” Sokka instigates.

Suki faces him and inhales a deep breath.

“Maybe we dont need team avatar to end the war. What if we can just do it somehow ourselves? Without the need of Aang?” Sokka’s eyes lit up. Something clicked within him once she offered the idea.

“Thats it!” He exclaims loudly making the people walking on the walkway look at the bridge with a questioning look. Sokka hides his face from embarrassment. He holds onto Suki’s shoulders and his eyes widened at the plan he was creating in his mind. He lowers his voice and began to whisper, “It has to be an inside job. Somehow, we have to be in the palace and take them down!”

“As in. . . killing them?” Suki questions.

“Whatever it may be. We just have to weaken them on the inside. We have to take down the heirs to the throne. . .but not Zuko obviously.”

“Azula. She’s the one that is currently firelord.”

Sokka nods his head. They agreed whole-heartedly about the structure of the plan, but they still didn’t know how it would come about. Suki was happy about the introduction of the plan that small tears flowed out of her with a small smile. “And it will all be over?” She whispered to Sokka as they planted their foreheads against each other.

“And it will all be over,” Sokka confirms and plants a kiss on Suki’s lips as the moon illuminated and made the snow reflect around them.

* * *

“Welcome home, Phoenix King,” Azula said as she sat at her throne. Blue fire illuminated the room flowingly and calmly for the young firelord. Her father stood in front of her throne chair and greeted her. “Home so soon?” She raised an eyebrow at her father. He wasn’t supposed to be home and she questioned what he was going to tell her.

“Yes, Azula. Since Ba Sing Se was liberated in the disgraceful hands of my brother, we will try to make advancements to the water tribes. Our men are dying. I need you to go to the Earth Kingdom and have the men join our army.”

“And if they dont?” She raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“Then make every means possible. Execution. Whatever you want to do.” Azula smirks as she shifts her sitting position on her throne chair and crosses her legs.

“Sounds like a plan, father,” she says sinisterly.

“One more thing,” he pauses and turns behind him to face the throne room door. “Girls!” The guardsmen open the door for two figures walking in. Azula jumps at the sight of two women that had betrayed her years ago. She furrows her eyebrows in anger and clenches her fingernails deep within the arm rest of her throne chair.

“What are they doing here?” She snarled loudly in the room.

“Silence!” Her father roared louder than her voice. Azula’s eyes widened at her father yelling at her. He never does that to her. _Don’t treat me like Zuko_ she thought. She tried to ignore her fathers strange demeanor towards her and shifted her eyes at the two women. Mai and Ty Lee looked miserable. For one thing, that was what Azula liked the most. That is how she wanted them to suffer. The girls were still wearing their prison uniform and looked skinny as ever where their eyes seemed sunken and dark circles were around their eyes. Azula relaxed and let out a small smile as she reclined her back against her chair. “The girls are here to help you. They will accompany you to the Earth Kingdom and help recruit the men.” Azula was not happy. She was angry. Angry at seeing their faces. Angry that her father didn’t care if they were friends or not. Angry that he didn’t tell her first. The surprise of seeing them opened up old wounds to the young firelord that she wasn’t sure if she would accept her fathers plans now that _they_ were there. As Mai and Ty Lee walked closer to where the Phoenix King and Azula were, Azula rises from her seat as a way to show that she was superior to them with her posture so straight and her arms folded crossed her chest.

“Well? I’m waiting, girls,” her demeanor had changed to a soothing one where she had collected herself. The girls didn’t want to bow down to her not even to the ‘king of the world.’ Mai furrowed her eyebrows in anger.

“No! I will never bow down to you!” Mai says through her teeth.

“I am your firelord and you will bow down to me!” Azula yells out. The fire in the throne room roar with blue fire as the fire grows in anger as she does. She spreads her legs open and moves her arms around. Lightening spews out of her fingers, but she hadn’t shoot it out of her fingertips, and Ozai smiles in pride as his daughter does this form. Defenseless, Mai closes her eyes in defeat. Against the two most powerful benders and her without her knives, there was nothing she could do. She turns her head away from seeing Azula and bows down in front of her. Ty Lee does the same, and Azula’s lightening dies down and was no longer spewing out of her fingers. Ozai kneels to the ground in front of Mai and grabs her face— clenching onto her jaw as he presses his thumb and index finger on each of her cheeks. Mai groans in pain. He looks into her eyes with such authority.

“You will obey Azulas orders and help her with what I want the both of you to do. Failure to do so, you can say goodbye to your little life,” he says as he squeezes his fingers on her cheeks ever so tightly. Mai feels the pain on her jaw as she feels his strength grow more and more. Pain stings throughout her whole body and her tears began to well up as a response. Ty Lee grew worried as he kept staring into Mai’s eyes and the noticeable pain he was causing her.

“Stop it!” Ty Lee cries out. Ozai comes out of the trance and lets go of Mai’s face— leaving her with red marks on the side of her face where his fingers were digging deep into her cheeks. Mai let out a big exhale as the Phoenix King gets up from the ground and walks out of the throne room. Azula was left with a smile seeing how her father handled the situation.

“You know, you should thank him for releasing you from prison,” she says with a small smirk escaping her lips, “there could've been way worse—“

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Mai interrupts Azula and looks up from the ground and into the eyes of Azula. Azula furrows her eyebrows in anger.

“Guards!” The guards guarding the entrance of the throne room open the doors yet again and bow down to the firelord, “Take them out of my sight! Put them where they will be staying.”


	3. Sozins Comet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened during Sozins Comet five years prior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in one take non-stop   
> I was on a level lol 
> 
> WARNING: graphic depictions of violence a bit and blood

_When Zuko woke up on the day of Sozins Comet, he was ready for whatever it took to end the war with his new friends. Even if it meant that his father may die. But, as the day went by, Team Avatar was preparing to fight, yes, but not at the instant when the comet arrived._

_“What are we doing?” He asks to the whole team as they were getting their things ready on Appa. “We won’t make it on time for the comet!” He was furious. He thought the team would be ready by now, but they seemed as if they weren’t in a hurry. Everyone looked at him confused. Why were they? Aang stops in his tracks as he carried a bag of resources to put on Appa._

_“You mean you dont know?” Aang questioned. Zuko stood there in silence not knowing what the avatar meant. “Nobody didn’t tell you?” Zuko didn’t know what to feel. Everyone knew about the plan but not him? He felt his whole world spinning as everyone looked at him in a confused manner over his emotions on how everyone seemed so calm before the storm. Zuko furrowed his eyebrows at Aang’s questions._

_“What do you mean by ‘you dont know?’” Zuko approached Aang face-to-face. Aang suddenly didn’t want to answer the question to Zuko. He saw how angry he was getting and felt like an explosion was bound to happen. Zuko looked at Aang in disbelief as he was holding back on the answers. He faced to the rest of the team. “Answer me!” Suki and Katara jumped at the sound of his voice. His voice roaring louder in anger. “I thought we were going to wait before the comet! What are we doing?” His anger was coming over him, and before he could cause destruction, Sokka grabbed a hold on Zuko’s shoulders._

_“Zuko!” He said out loud. Zuko looked into Sokka’s eyes. Sokka lowered his voice calmly, “We’re actually going to wait until after the comet to attack.” Sokka closed his eyes tightly— preparing himself on what Zuko was about to say. But instead, Zuko shoved Sokka’s hands from his shoulders and turned away from the rest of the group. He couldn’t believe they withheld information from him. He was angry, of course, but he was also upset. He couldn’t believe it— he really couldn’t. He was facing towards the water as his feet were touching the grainy sand. He plopped down on the sand and sat on it and buried his face in his hands. There was so many emotions he was feeling that he felt like the only way to let it out. . . was to cry. They didn’t know what was bound to happen during the comet, and with the comet happening within a few mins, the war may never be over._

_In between sobs, Zuko asks to the team, “Do you guys realize what you have done?” He turns around to the team where his arms flail around him— causing him to fire bend a gush of it where the fire followed the movement on how his arms swayed when he turned around. “Do you?” He asks louder. The team was stunned. What could possibly happen?_

_“What do you mean?” Katara says fiddling with her fingers. She was afraid that the team had done a horrible choice. “Aang’s not ready to face the Firelord. The war is practically almost over with Ba Sing Se being occupied. What could possibly get more worse?”_

_“The comet. . .” Zuko continues. He gets up from the sand and approaches closer to the team as he wipes the remaining tears on his cheek away. “The comet gives fire benders the power of a hundred suns. Nothing can really stop us. My father. . .” He pauses again looking down at the ground away from the group. “I was in the war meeting with my father where he believed that he must do the same thing that Firelord Sozin did to your people, Aang. He’s going to wipe out everyone in the Earth Kingdom.” Tears were welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t believe the team were going to hold back on the previous plan. Now, this was going to happen in a matter of minutes. The group gasped at the information being told from Zuko. Katara grabbed a hold of her brothers hand and squeezed it. She didn’t think this all felt real. Suki held on to Sokka even more tightly. Toph held on Katara’s other hand as tears welled in her eyes of fear. She thought of her family and the possibility that they might die during this raid. They were all afraid._

_“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Aang questioned at Zuko. “This is so bad. I can’t let this happen. . .” His voice croaks. “Not again.” Zuko was in disbelief._

_“Me? I didn’t think I had to tell you! I thought we were going to attack before the comet!” Tears welled in Aang’s eyes. He can’t allow another nation to go down like his people. He approached Zuko and cried into his shoulders._

_“I’m so sorry, Zuko,” he said. Both of them had let out their frustrations within that hug. Breaking off the hug, Aang turned to face the rest of the team away from Zuko. “We have to go. . . NOW!” Everyone had stopped holding onto each other from fear and hurriedly packed their things on Appa. With everyone on the saddle, Aang said the words for Appa to fly, and they were on their way to the Earth Kingdom._

_Aang wasn’t ready. . . he knew that, but he had to do something before it was too late, or he will never forgive himself. He watched the comet arrive as it soared across the earth’s surface. With its flames tailed, the sky had turned into a red and orange color— just like how it was when General Zhao took away Tui, the moons spirits life._

_And they were too late. As many of the airships circled around the Earth Kingdom and Ba Sing Se, there was some parts of the nation that were engulfed in flames. Aang’s heart was pounding throughout his whole body. He was afraid, of course, but so was everyone. He couldn’t enter the avatar state, but he had to try and stop further damage. As the whole team looked outside from Appa's saddle, they were afraid. They were all kids, and this was a life or death situation. Zuko tried to push his fear away from his find and change his tone into an optimistic tone._

_He looked at everyone in the saddle, “Look. We can’t back down! We have to do this!” As they got closer to the air ships, Appa was flying side to side avoiding the flames being thrown by the fire nation army. Toph’s eyes widened at the feeling of fire in front of them._

_“That’s a lot of fire. . .” she said lowly. The fire nation airships were first surrounding the people of the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. They were being terrorized by the soldiers coming down from the airship and into their lands. As some of the fire nation soldiers were about to sprung out their fire bending powers at the people, a group of old men had stopped them. One man had retracted the soldiers fire into his own hands and punched a glob of fire at the soldiers back._

_Zuko watched from down below, “Is that—?” The team except Aang watched below from the inside of the saddle and saw five mean in white gear protecting the people in Ba Sing Se. “It can’t be.” Aang saw the group of men and pulled the reins of Appa to guide him down towards the group of men as fast as they could avoiding the flames from up above._

_When Appa landed, Zuko saw his Uncle Iroh and Master Piandao taking down the fire nation soldiers that were surrounding them._

_“Uncle!” Zuko yells out. He jumps off of Appa and onto the ground. Iroh looks around the scene from the voice of his nephew and he felt as if his world stood still when his eyes landed on his nephew. Zuko did it he thought. He finally found his destiny and joined team avatar. Iroh punched flames at the soldiers out of his way and ran towards Zuko. Zuko wanted to say so much to him. He had missed him so much and was wondering if he had disappointed him. “Uncle, I am so sorr—“ His uncle stops him._

_“There’s no time! We have to stop the fire nation from doing further damage.” He hugs his nephew. Zuko follows him and Master Piandao and Jeong Jeong. As the rest of the team gets off of Appa, the rest of the group of men gathered where Zuko, Master Piandao, and Iron were standing attacking the soldiers._

_“Master Pakku!” Katara yells out and runs towards him. His eyes lit up at the sight of the young master water-bender._

_“Katara, we need all the help we can get. We must put out the fires,” Katara nods her head in reassurance to his words. She was willing to do whatever it took to stop the Fire Nation from completely occupying Ba Sing Se._

_“What do we do?” Sokka yells out. Pack looked back at the remaining group of Team Avatar._

_“Sokka, you go with Master Piandao,” he pointed at Suki, “You go with them too.”_

_“I’ll go on Appa and take down the Fire Nation airships,” Aang said determined. “Toph, you go with Bumi! He’s an earth bender.”_

_“Got it!” She said running towards Bumi that walked towards her._

_As Aang went on top of Appa again, Katara looked back at him with such sorrow in her eyes. Please be safe she thought to herself. Aang gave a nod of determination towards the gang before he left._

_“Appa, yip yip!” He says gathering the reins. Appa flew up from the ground and soared into the red sky towards the fire nation airships. “Momo, go somewhere safe.” He looked at the flying lemur with concerned in his eyes. He didn’t want to put him in danger. Momo chittered something back to Aang and flew away from Appa’s saddle. Aang looks back ahead of him and gasps. “Appa, be careful!” He says pulling the reins side to side to avoid being hit by flames. Aang moved his arms in his circular motion below his stomach as he bended air and stood up on Appa as they flew against an airship. His air was powerful enough to pierce through the airship causing it to steer downward nose-dived. Appa guides him to another air ship and Aang does the same thing again._

* * *

_“Katara, come follow me,” Pakku says running forward leading the way. She follows after him leaving the group behind to fend for each other. Pack guides her avoiding the soldiers as Katara uses her water from her waterskin and freezes the soldiers before they can attack her. Passing by a fountain, Pack bends the water out of it as a way to surf their way faster. Katara does the same, and the two of them were unharmed. They made their way close to the outer ring where fires were widespread throughout the nation. They used water from a nearby fountain to rise up from the ground as the water sprung them upwards. They inhaled and exhaled for a brief moment bringing in a moment of strategizing how to put out the fires. As she was up in midair, she waves her hands from below, and rises them up causing the remaining water from the fountain to rise up and wave towards the fire. Pakku does the same and with the power of two master water-benders, the fire was put out. All they needed to do was to stop the soldiers from below to cause more fire damage to the nation._

_They lowered themselves gently as the soldiers drew close around them. Katara lands on the ground and sees a family trying to hide away from the soldiers._

_Katara runs towards them and says, “Go hide. Quick! Please, save yourselves!” The family run away before a fire nation soldier could end their lives. Katara stands in a defense stance and shoots a powerful shoot of water towards the group of fire benders. One of them dropped below to their knees and kicked out their leg where fire rose up at Katara. She places a ball of water in front of her to stop it. Where was Pakku? She thought to herself._

_Pakku was near the water fountain trying to drown the fire nation soldiers with the water flowing from the fountain. He flowed his arms around him as the water followed his movement and circled around him to protect him. More soldiers were dropping from above trying to end the lives of another nation. He will not allow that to happen. Pakku inhaled for a brief moment and let out a breath as he furrowed his eyebrows in determination for what he was about to do. He sprung water at one soldier that was behind him and then moved his hands in a circular motion to bend all the water together as one blob and than shot out his hand causing the blob to shoot out ice daggers at the soldiers. It pierced through their armor and about seven of them fell to their death as the ice pierced through their skin. Blood flowed out of their wounds as they tried to fight the pain off, but Pakku left them alone to die._

_Katara ran towards Pakku after defending the family to hide and saw the scene of men piled up together dead. Her hands felt shaky at the sight of dead men, but they were fire nation soldiers._

_“You did—“ She started but was interrupted by Pakku._

_“Come on! Come quick we cannot stay for a period of time. Let’s go back with the group.” They ran towards back to the the group as they saw the fire benders retracting back fire that was sprung from above and shooting it back. Toph and Bumi were crashing the Fire Nation tanks together. It was more helpful since Toph was a metal bender. Bumi had high respects for the young prodigy. One soldier punched out flames towards them and Toph sprung her arms up in the air where a platform of earth rose above as a wall to block the flames. The flame dispersed around them and behind Toph was Bumi where he pushed both of his arms forward causing the wall to shoot out towards the soldiers._

_Zuko, Piandao, and Iroh were all circled around together fighting off the soldiers. For a moment, Piandao handed a sword to Zuko where Zuko clashed against a soldiers weapon and pushed it out of the soldiers hand. Piandao pierced his own sword against the soldier and continued to fight against the soldiers. Iroh saw a gulf of flame coming from above and waved his arms up in the air and moved it around flowingly where he bundled the flames together and separated his arms where the fire dispersed in the air. Jeong Jeong rose above from the ground as fire shot out of his hands and feet that allowed him to fly. As close as he was to the airships, he gave a helping hand to Aang as he inhaled— sensing the power of the comet and shot out his arm towards the airship— causing it to go up in flames and crash down towards a mountain outside of where the group were._

* * *

_As Aang was retracting the fire from the soldiers on the airship, he spotted Ozai ahead from the airships in the royal airship. Ozai stood out from the ship on a railing on the side, and was shooting out fire from his arms._

_Aang was determined to go towards Ozai. Ozai opened his mouth a roared a fire breath from within towards the land down below of the ship. But before the fire can be widespread, the fire was put out as Aang saw a wave of water taking care of it. He smiled at himself, but then faced reality. He had to stop this. Appa flew forward towards the fire nation royal airship. As they were getting closer, Aang grabbed his glider and flew towards Ozai. Aang shot out a gush of air towards Ozai causing him to fall on his back on the platform he was standing on outside of the airship. Aang dropped onto the platform by Ozai. Ozai moved his hair away from his face and furrowed his eyebrows in anger when he saw the young avatar. Ozai sprung up from the ground and pounded a fist towards Aang. As flames came towards him, Aang moved his arms in a flowing manner and had the flames circle around him, and he shot his arm up in the air where the fire shot out._

_Ozai widened his eyes and was stunned when he saw the avatar fire bend. He’s a fire bender. . . he thought to himself. Ozai sprung out of the platform he was standing on and flew away from Aang using his fire bending. Aang followed him using the glider and glided towards him. Ozai turned around to face Aang and used a fire whip towards Aang’s glider. Aang wasn’t expecting it and his glider catches on fire causing him to fly down. Ozai laughs loudly as the avatar was shot down. His body shut down as a mechanism to save himself, but because the avatar state was blocked, Aang was unconscious instead._

_Down below, Katara was putting out fires with Pakku until she looked up into the sky and saw Aang’s body falling from the sky as his glider crash lands first then he does._

_“Aang!” She yells out. Tears form in her eyes. No, this can’t be it! She thinks to herself. She screams as she sees him continuing to fall. Sokka fighting against the soldiers with his space sword, he stops to look at his sister who was terrified at what she was seeing in the sky. He clashes his sword against the soldiers weapon and pushes it to the ground and turns to his sister._

_“Katara! Get it together! For me!” He yells back at her. But she couldn’t keep her eyes off of the falling avatar. She was stuck in a trance. Suki ran towards Katara to shake her out of her thoughts, but a soldier was about to attack her with his sword when Suki kicked it out of her way and grabbed the sword herself. As Aang continued to ascend downward, Katara could no longer see Aang’s body because the buildings and the homes in front of her were blocking her view. Katara looked back at the soldiers coming towards them. She furrowed her eyebrows in anger and let out a yell as tears streamed down her face. She bended the water outward of the fountains nearby and caused a massive wave in front of her. She drowned the soldiers in front of her, and she had no regrets._

* * *

_Aang was falling down from the sky. Hearing Kataras voice in the background made him open his eyes. He saw himself almost crashing to the ground, and before he crashed, he air bended a ball that absorbed him inside and protected him from getting hurt. He lets out a grunt once he lands on the ground and looked above to the sky to still see Ozai shooting out fire._

_The comet was about to end and it seemed like the fight was almost coming to an end. . . he hoped. He heard an animal grunt above, and he saw his flying bison flying down in a hurry towards Aang. Appa lands on the ground and licks Aang’s face._

_“Im okay, buddy. Lets go,” he hops on Appa and guides him upwards to see where was his team was. Above, he sees his group, and he lands downwards to help them._

_Ozai saw the Airbender with his bison and smiled in determination on what he was planning to do next. He flew back to the outside platform of his airship and opened the door to meet with the captain._

_“What is it, Firelord Ozai?” The captain asked._

_Ozai smirked, “I have a special request. Descend our ship towards the ground of where the group of bender are at.” The captain nods his head to the order of the firelord, and Ozai heads his way out against outside to the platform._

_As the ship descended towards team avatar, Aang saw the powerful gulf of flames coming their way. It wasn’t expected from the group, and they all gasped seeing the big wave as Ozai got closer to them. Ozai shot out a flame towards the group, and Aang rose his hands up in a circular motion and air bended a ball that consumed the rest of the team as they got closer together. Trying all his might, Aang furrows his eyebrows concentrating on his power and not allowing Ozai hurting them._

_Aang was getting tired. His air bending was becoming weak as Ozai shot flame from both of his hands. Aang’s ball of air protecting them was only getting smaller and smaller as the team drew closer together to avoid getting hurt._

_“Even with all the power in the world, you’re still weak!” Ozai yelled out from outside the air-ball._

_Aang couldn’t handle the power of the fire coming at them, as he got tired, Bumi and Toph earth bended a small tent that protected the whole team on all sides._

_Feeling the heat of the fire, Ozai yells out, “You can’t hide in there forever, Avatar!” He continues to shoot out flames. The small tent can only hold so much and was starting to deteriorate as the flames got stronger._

_“Guys, you have to go,” he said turning around towards the group._

_“What?” Katara asked in disbelief. Aang looked at Toph and Bumi and ignored Katara._

_“Create an underground tunnel to keep you guys safe. He only wants me. Not you guys.” Katara holds onto Aang’s arms._

_“Aang, what are you doing?” Tears welled in her eyes. She was afraid she will never see Aang again. He looked away from seeing her eyes. It hurt him seeing her like that._

_“I’m sorry, Katara, I have to do this.” Toph earthbended a hole below them and the group of men went down below except for Bumi. Sokka and Suki followed down below, but Katara was still next to Aang._

_“Aang, please dont do this!” She pleaded. “Stay with me, please!”_

_“I’m sorry, Katara,” is all he says as Bumi carried Katara away from Aang and took her down to the tunnel. Toph jumped down below to the ground and closed the hole._

_As soon as the hole closed, the small earth platform tent that Bumi and Toph made, was destroyed by the fire. Immediately, Aang created his airball to surround and protect him as he was met with Ozai above from the airship. Ozai kept using his hands to shoot out fire because he knew the avatar couldn’t handle it. He smiled and laughed as he saw Aang trying so hard to keep himself alive._

_Then, the fire started to subside. It not longer felt powerful and was slowly becoming as a normal power source as it was before the comet._

_Ozai looked at his hands trying so hard to shoot out powerful flames as he did for the past few minutes but was disappointed to see that the comet was gone._

_Aang struck his arms down and let the airball explode out from him and had caused the royal airship to fly farther away from him. Ozai widened his eyes in fear as he saw the avatar do this. He looked around and saw the damage of the earth kingdom. He saw his men dead on the ground and wounded. He ran inside the airship and shouted at the captain to retreat back to the fire nation._

_Aang saw the remaining airships retreating back away from Ba Sing Se. Aang let out a sigh and dropped himself to the floor. He buried his hands into his face and quietly sobbed to himself. He felt like a failure. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and he turned around in distraught to see it was Katara. Tears welled in her eyes, and she let out a small smile. She was glad to see that he was okay. Behind her, was the rest of the team and the group. Katara pulled Aang into a hug and the rest of them hugged him as well in a big group hug._

_“You did what you could, Aang,” Sokka said._

_“Aang, there will be another time to defeat the Firelord. I just know it,” Bumi said to the young Avatar. Aang nodded in appreciation on the words coming from the people he had met along the way._

_“Yeah, Twinkle Toes. Whatever it takes, we will be there with you!” Toph said._

_He hoped they were right._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I've been caught up with things to do, but the chapter is here! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it! :)

Ty Lee and Mai were pushed inside a room that was far away from the rest of the bedroom quarters in the palace. Their room was cold and hadn’t been refurbished in a long time. It felt like a dungeon where there was stone around the whole room. There was only two beds for the two of them and one small window.

Mai sighed as she sat on one bed on the left side of the room. She had to collect herself. She was back at the fire nation palace. Back to the hands of her ex-friend. Bad memories were crossing her mind, but she couldn’t get the thoughts out of her head. Ty Lee noticed Mai was having a hard time and approached her. She sat next to Mai on the bed and watched her friend turn away from her.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ty Lee asks. She knew Mai didn’t really like talking about her feelings, but it was worth a shot to ask her.

“No,” is all Mai said. Ty Lee didn’t get upset over the response. She knew that it was okay for Mai to not explain her feelings, but she will eventually. It’s all about patience. They sat next to each other in comfortable silence until the door to their room unlocked and Azula walked in.

Mai turned her head towards the door in anger and Ty Lee furrowed her eyebrows at the Firelord.

“What do you want, Azula?” Mai asks with distaste in her mouth. Azula smirked.

“That’s no way to talk to your Firelord, Mai, and you know that.” Behind her, a guard had a box and he gives it to Mai. “This shipment came from the prison you two were in. These are your things that were confiscated.” Mai reaches her hand inside and find her knives. She missed them so much— life wasn’t the same without them where she would practice her aim when she was bored. There wasn’t anything she could do in prison instead of wither away without the people she loved. “There’s also fresh set of clothes that you can get yourself out of those— horrible prison uniforms.” Mai and Ty Lee looked down on the clothes they were wearing. They forgot they were still in their prison uniform that had holes in them and the color of them were fading away. For a moment, Mai ignored about everything that was shown to her in the box by Ty Lee and more questions popped into her mind.

“Where’s my family?” She asked harshly. “I want to see them. I want to see Tom-Tom.” She furrowed her eyebrows and something slipped down her cheek. It was a tear— she hadn’t realized that she was crying. Azula approached Mai face-to-face and smirked.

“You won’t see your family,” she said in a low voice, “you work for me now.” She smiled sinisterly and walked away out of the room leaving Mai feeling hopeless and alone. _At least I have Ty Lee_ she thought. Mai let out a big sigh and laid her back on the bed. Her lips trembled at everything that happened for the past few hours. She sobbed quietly to herself as she covered her face with her hands. Ty Lee looked behind her as she sat on Mai’s bed next to her. She was concerned for Mai. When Ozai found them and requested for them to return to the palace, Mai wasn’t acting like this at all.

“I miss Tom-Tom,” Mai said between her tears. She had hoped she would see her little brother. He was the light of her life. Every time she was with him, he would make her forget all the bad things in the world, for he was an innocent child. _Where’s Zuko?_ She thought to herself. She turned her body to lay on its side and continued to cry.

“Ty Lee,” she whispered her friends name. “Can you give me a hug?” She continues to cry. Ty Lee lays down next to her and holds her tight. She hoped it was working where Mai would feel a little bit better. “I hate being here.”

“When we betrayed her at the Boiling Rock, I thought I got over my fear of her,” Ty Lee stated, “but now that I’m with her now, and she’s the ruler of the nation, I realized that fear never left.”

* * *

“Okay, guys. We have to work now. The fire nation can take Ba Sing Se and the water tribes,” Aang said. He was nervous as the anxious thoughts appeared in his thoughts. He tried to shove them down in the back of his head, but they kept barging in. Suki and Sokka looked at each other with an empty face. They had already discussed further plans and were about to go behind the teams back. The team became startled in their communal home when someone had walked in the entryway. It was Haru. The teams eyes lit up as they saw an old friend.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were in the southern tribe,” Sokka said hugging him. Haru greets the team and smiles warmly, but his smile had faded once his eyes laid on the avatar.

“Word got around in the southern tribe that Firelord Azula was requested by the Phoenix King to go to Ba Sing Se,” Haru says directly. The team looked at each with concern. Many thoughts were running in their mind. _What could she do there? What’s going to happen?_ “We don’t know what she’s going to do there, but we’re afraid they’re making advancements. Who knows when she’ll go, but that’s all we know for now.” Aang rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs.

With the mention of his sister going to Ba Sing Se, Zuko knew his sister was going to need help, “Azula usually has people with her. Do you know who’s going with her on the trip?”

Haru thinks about it for a moment and then remembered.

“Yes. We heard that the Phoenix King had ordered a prison in the Fire Nation to pardon two of her former friends. They’re with her now.” Zukos eyes widened at the mention. Mai and Ty Lee. His heart skipped a beat when he imagines about Mai. He missed her so much, and the many years he spent in the northern water tribe in hiding, she was all he thought of. But what he hated the most was that she was willing to go to prison just to save him. She didn’t deserve to go through that.

“Wait a minute,” Katara instigates. “How are you getting this information? Aren’t these private matters?”

Haru smiles, “Well that’s a good question, Katara. Your father had sent spies in the Fire Nation over the course of the five years. They’ve ranked higher in the palace over these past few years and have been close in the palace.” Team Avatar was stunned. They hadn’t known that Hakoda had risked his men’s lives just to be spies for the nation that the world was against. Suki glances a look at Sokka and smiles. Sokka’s father had the same similar plan like his son.

“There’s one problem,” Aang says to Haru. “I still can’t go into the avatar state.” Haru’s eyes widened.

“Yeah,” he puts his hand behind his head and rubs it, “that is a problem.”

“Aang, come on,” Sokka says rolling his eyes, “You don't need the avatar state. You have us!”

Aang turns to look at Sokka, “I can’t risk my life like that again. You saw how it was during Sozin’s Comet five years ago. I almost died! I can’t be the last Airbender! If I’m gone, then the whole population and culture of the Air-Nomads cease to exist!” Sokka hadn’t thought about that at all, and now, he felt bad for ever pushing Aang to his limit during these past meetings.

After a moment of silence, Katara’s eyes lit up. She rests her hand on Aang’s shoulder, and he looks at her.

“Aang, I have an idea. How about I do a healing session on you to somehow awaken your avatar state? Like how I did it with Jet to stop his hypnotization,” Aang nods his head.

“It’s worth a try,” he faintly smiles.

* * *

Zuko and Haru helped fill a tub with water and placed it in the common area of the communal home for Aang to lay on. Sokka and Suki went to their rooms and called it a night. Toph was with the rest of the team and hoped that this session would help unlock his avatar state.

Aang puts his foot inside the tub— testing the waters, and then puts his other foot in. Katara holds onto Aang’s hand as he lays down on the tub submerging his body in it and allowing his face to poke out of the water. His body began to float, and he focused on his breathings and closes his eyes.

Zuko and Haru watched as Katara moved her arms in a flowingly side to side manner where the water had consumed her hands like a glove. She moved her hands above his body working her way on trying to awaken his avatar state— wherever it may be. She hovers her hands above Aang’s head and the water glowed.

Zuko and Haru gasped as they saw this happening.

“What? What’s happening?” Toph asked intrigued. Katara was trying all her might to heal whatever that was glowing in Aang’s mind.

“I think its working,” Zuko mutters to Toph. As the remaining team surround Katara and the tub, Katara kept circling her hands around Aang’s head. Aang began to mutter something.

“What was that?” Katara whispered to Aang. Aang had seemed as if he fell unconscious somehow. He wasn’t responding to her questions and kept muttering the same thing over and over again.

“Raava. . . “ he whispers while whimpering. “Raava. . .”

Katara stopped her healing and brought her hands down to the side of her body. She looked at the remaining team and gave them a confused look as Aang kept repeating the same thing over and over again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey lol  
> sorry for the long wait. I had written ahead of time but have been caught up from continuing on writing this fic, BUT I did not forget about this! I'm not sure if I'll have a scheduled time to post, but I will come back to this. Just have to push through this writer's block and I'll be fine :)
> 
> Enjoy!

“Aang?” Katara asks him as he slowly opens his eyes. He was still in the tub, but he was no longer muttering the word.

“What happened?” He asks looking at the group who was giving him a weird look.

“Well, that’s what we wanted to ask you,” Toph said. Aang raised an eyebrow at her response.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Katara starts as she plays with her long her nervously, “when I hovered my hands to your head, it glowed, and I started working my way to healing. But of course it didn’t need healing. There wasn’t internal damage.” She pauses and looks down to her feet. “I don't know what I did exactly.”

Zuko pitches in, “But, it did something. Aang, you were muttering a word over and over again. We dont know what it means.”

“You said,” Haru thinks about it for a while, “Raava.” Aang raised an eyebrow once again. He had never heard of this word before, and just like his team, he had no idea what it meant either.

“I have no idea what it means either,” he says placing his hand on his forehead. This intrigued him. Whatever Katara did, it sparked something for him to get closer to his avatar state. He just had to figure out what it was and what it meant. “I’ll contact the previous avatars before me. Maybe they can help.” Katara smiles softly at him. He turns his head to face at her and smiles. “Thank you, Katara. I knew I could count on you.”

* * *

Suki makes her way to Sokka’s room in the communal home. The rest of the team were asleep, and Suki made sure of that. This was how they were going to communicate about their plan without the team. Suki opens the door to his room softly and closes it behind her where Sokka was sitting in his bed waiting for her. She smiles at him and tip-toes approaching to where he sat.

“Hey,” she whispers at him. He smiles back and holds onto her hand as she sat down next to him. “So, what’s next in the plan?”

He looks at her for a moment and contemplates for what he’s about to say.

“We said to kill the possible heir to the throne of the Phoenix King...”

“And I volunteered to assassinate her,” Suki frowns, “but what if I get caught? You know how they do it in the Fire Nation. I could be executed.” Sokka frowns at the idea.

“Suki, I dont want you to go—“ he pauses. He closes his eyes tightly trying to fight off tears from falling down his cheek. “I can’t protect you if you go.”

Suki rests her hand on his that laid on top of his thigh. She knew what he meant by that. He told her the story about Yue the moon spirit and how it devastated him. Maybe it was a bad idea from the start to go behind the groups back, but it was worth a try to plan it.

“Sokka—“ She starts but was soon interrupted by him again.

He opens his eyes and looks at her with tears welling in his eyes, “I will never forgive myself if something happened to you.” Suki’s heart sank when she saw the state that Sokka was in. Maybe this plan wouldn’t work out at all. She looks away from him and watched her feet dangle on the side of the bed as she sat next to him. Sitting in silence, there was so much going on in the atmosphere.

“Most of all, she knows who I am and who I associate with.”

Again, they were frustrated and upset that the war couldn’t be possibly over. Who knew when the Fire Nation could make advancements and what was Azula truly going to do in Ba Sing Se. This didn’t mean to completely avoid the plan. They just had to somehow take back the previous plan of an assassin and make a completely different plan.

“This,” Sokka says letting his body fall on its back on the bed, “sucks.” He rubs his temples and sighs as Suki looks behind her to see his body. She falls back and lays next to him. She turns her head to face him as he’s facing his head at the icy ceiling. He’s troubled, but she knows there will be a way out of this. Somehow.

“Don’t worry, Sokka,” she says. She fiddles with her fingers that laid on top of her abdomen. She wasn’t sure if it was the right time to say it. She knew that there was a possibility that the war may go on years from now. Hopefully Aang would access his avatar state by then.

Suki yawned and decided that it was best for her to go to bed. She plants a kiss on Sokka’s cheek and sits up from his bed and gets off. She looks behind her to see him again, and he was still looking at the ceiling. He hasn’t muttered anything after their conversation. She furrowed her eyebrows with concern and walked away from him heading towards the door. As she reaches out her hand to touch the handle, an arm reaches from behind her and plants their hand on the door. She turns around to see Sokka who looked very stressed out.

“Suki, I’m sorry,” he said.

She shakes her head at his words, “Sokka, don’t be. I understand.” She lets out a gentle smile to demonstrate to him that she wasn’t hurt or upset about it at all. She opens the door and walks through the entry way, and she faces him again. “Let’s just sleep through it, and we will form another plan.”

“What other plan?” A voice was heard. Sokka and Suki jumped. In the hallway where Suki stood to walk out of Sokka’s room was Haru. He had walked out of his room at some point and was just about to go back in when he heard Suki and Sokka at the doorway.

“I thought everyone was sleeping?” Sokka whispered to her harshly.

“They were!” She whispered harshly and was stunned when Haru approached them.

“Come on guys, it’s me. You can tell me,” Haru said facing Sokka and Suki. Suki glanced at Sokka not knowing what to say.

“Uh... there is no plan,” Suki said.

“Yeah. Suki and I were talking about,” he pauses, “a palm?” He looks at Suki with a questionable look. He wasn’t even sure where he was going with this.

“A palm?” Haru asked unamused.

“Yeah exactly!” Sokka pointed a finger up in the air. “Suki, here, knows how to read palms.” He grabs her shoulder and shoved her lightly towards Haru. She lets out a nervous laugh with a plastered smile.

“Yup! Sure do!” She turns to look at Sokkawith her eyes narrowed and her lips read ‘palm reader?’ She looks at Haru and smiles again.

“But it doesn’t make sense in the context Suki said. She said, ‘form another palm’? See? It doesn’t make sense.” Suki’s shoulder slumped once Haru turned down their approach to change what he had heard. Sokka lets out a sigh. “Guys, Im not stupid.”

“Wait, you knew we were lying?” Sokka asked walking out of the entryway of his room. Haru nods his head in response.

“Sure did. I just wanted to listen what kind excuse you guys tried making up.” He laughs at his own response.

“You’re a cruel man,” Suki said shaking her head laughing lightly.

Sokka began to whisper, “If you want to know about the plan, then come in.” He grabbed Haru’s arm and tugged him inside and Suki followed— closing the door behind her. Suki pressed her back against the door and watched as Haru became skeptical of the two.

Haru raises an eyebrow, “Look. Whatever this is. . . I don't want to be part of this if this is something that could get us into trouble.” 

Sokka shakes his head.

“It’s not necessarily something that can get us into trouble. . . unless we assassinate someone,” Sokka said. Haru widened his eyes and let out a sharp exhale.

“What?”

Sokka lets out a sigh and Suki approaches to Haru away from the door.

“What he means is,” she glares at Sokka, “we had a plan on somehow going to the Fire Nation palace and assassinate the heir to the throne of the Phoenix King, but it's risky.”

“Why are you guys trying to hide this?”

“Because,” Sokka closes his eyes, “it goes against with everything Aang stands for. If we told him, he would not even let us go.”

Suki chimed in, “We’re going behind their back.” Haru leans against a dresser that Sokka had in his room and rubs his temple. It was a lot to take in, and he hadn’t realized that the plan he overheard will be about this. He thought about their idea and the risks, and he thought of other ways to help them.

“I’m in,” Haru says giving a reassuring nod. Suki and Sokka looked at each other.

“It’s too risky, Haru. You can be executed by law of the Fire Nation,” Sokka said.

Haru shook his head no, “I’m not going to assassinate anyone. But, I do have an idea about this plan of yours.” Sokka and Suki tuned in for what Haru had to say. He explained to them that he had seen how Hakoda has sent his warriors as spies to the fire nation.

“Instead of going to the Fire Nation palace, I can go to the Earth Kingdom and find out what exactly Azula is going to do there,” he continued.

Sokka nodded along to Haru as the words escaped his lips.

“How would you go to the Earth Kingdom without the team questioning you?” Suki asked.

Haru thought about it for a bit and wondered what excuse is convincing enough so people won’t question on why he was leaving to the Earth Kingdom so sudden. He thinks about his mom and pinpoints how he hadn’t seen her in a few years. His father and the Southern Water tribe warriors were still in prison somewhere in the Fire Nation since the day of the black sun.

“I’m going to say that I’m visiting my mom, and hoping she is doing okay over there,” he explains. Sokka and Suki nodded in approval with the plan. This was way better than the plan her and Sokka had made, and she was glad Haru was there to help and come up with an alternative plan.

Sokka’s face fell, “But what would happen if the Fire Nation somehow captures you?”

Haru shakes his head at Sokka’s comments, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll contact you guys somehow when I make it."

“Plus,” Suki faces to Sokka, “if Haru encounters Azula, she won’t know he’s associated with us! They have never met each other face to face!” Sokka nods his head at Suki and the couple smile at Haru and joined in on a group hug.

“Thank you so much Haru, you helped out greatly,” Sokka said, and Haru wrapped his arms around the two.

With Haru helping out the couple and being able to go along with the plan, he had helped Sokka with his frustrations with Aang. Haru understood how Sokka felt and would do whatever it took to somehow stop the war.


End file.
